Patient's question:
This is an X-ray taken for bone age assessment. Please take a look and let me know what the bone age is approximately based on this X-ray. Thank you! Does it matter which hand the child uses when taking the bone age X-ray? The child is 7 years and 9 months old!Doctor's answer:
A person's height experiences two periods of rapid growth in their lifetime. The first is within the first two years of life, when height can increase by 25 centimeters. The second is during puberty, which lasts approximately 2 to 2.5 years, during which a person can grow 8 to 12 centimeters per year. On average, males grow 28 to 30 centimeters during puberty, while females grow 25 to 27 centimeters.After a girl starts menstruating and a boy starts experiencing nocturnal emissions, the growth rate slows to 2 to 3 centimeters per year, with an average final growth of 5 to 7 centimeters. Around the ages of 16 for girls and 18 for boys, the diaphysis and epiphysis of the bones become almost completely fused, and growth nearly ceases. Growth hormone no longer plays a role in height increase, and further growth in height becomes impossible. Girls typically begin to close their epiphyses around the age of 16.